United Nations has failed in many ways, but not all
Chapman Museum to screen `It's a Wonderful Life;' show off holiday decorations
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There has been little coverage of what Rep. Elise Stefanik will do as United Nations ambassador.
While she may see her new role as a resume builder, many others have long given up on the United Nations and its role in the world.
That is short-sighted.
Formed in the months after World War II, the United Nations was an ideal, a way for civilization to be civilized and avoid the end-of-humanity type of conflicts like World War II.
Its founders attempted to learn from the failures of the League of Nations after World War I with mixed results.
The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East - and dozens of other conflicts around the globe in the decades since World War II - show it has failed in the larger peacekeeping effort.
The United Nations was formed in 1945 with five objectives in mind:
- Maintaining international peace and security.
- Protecting human rights.
- Delivering humanitarian aid.
- Promoting sustainable development.
- Upholding international law.
Oddly, Stefanik has not been a big supporter of the United Nations. She condemned the U.N. for perceived anti-Israel bias and has called for a reduction in funding from the United States. The United States contributes 22 percent of the entire U.N. budget and 27 percent of its peace-keeping budget. China is second in contributions.
While the United Nations is often an organization without any teeth when superpowers misbehave - China and Russia for instance - it continues to provide the type of humanitarian hope that is desperately needed throughout the world.
The United Nations has received the Nobel Peace Prize three times for its humanitarian efforts.
In 1981, the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees was honored for its work helping refugees in the face of political obstacles all over the world.
In 1988, the U.N.'s peacekeeping forces were honored for their contributions to reducing tensions throughout the world and often bringing warring factions to the negotiating table. It was seen has an important step in keeping the peace throughout the world.
In 2020, the United Nations World Food Programme was honored for its effort to combat hunger and bettering conditions in conflict-affected areas of the world while preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war. The WFP is the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and food security and it provided assistance to 100 million people in 88 countries in 2019.
That should dissuade you that the United Nations is a do-nothing organization.
It makes a difference in smaller ways than was intended, but it still makes a difference.
We'll see if Stefanik can help in that regard.
The United Nations has also been on the front lines of human rights and Rep. Stefanik's record lately - especially on the rights of the trans community - has been spotty.
As the United Nations ambassador, Rep. Stefanik is going to be more than a politician raising money and trying to get people elected, she will have to be a diplomat and a stateswoman in an administration that does not value those skills.
The U.N. has helped make the world a better place in times of acute crisis, largely because of the United States funding. This is a great opportunity for Rep. Stefanik to to defend that humanitarian mission.
My fear is that she will do just the opposite and try to reduce its role in the world.
How she handles funding for issues for world hunger, peacekeeping efforts and the refugee crisis will tell us a lot about her and her humanity.
The past 10 years we have seen her mostly as a cold-blooded politician.
If she continues to follow the political expedient path as in the past, it will be at the expense of poor refugees looking for a better life.
What she does in her new role will be critical.
Lives hang in the balance.
Chapman meeting
For many of you that have recently become Chapman Museum members, I'd encourage you to check out its annual meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 5 p.m.
Executive Director Nicole Herwig will review the past year and goals for 2025. The meeting is open to the public. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. by calling 518 793-2826.
"It's a Wonderful Life"
You also might want to mark your calendar for the Chapman Museum's screening of the Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
This is not only a great opportunity to see the Christmas classic but to also tour the Christmas lights and decorations throughout the house.
Make sure the kids see the Adirondack Penguin exhibit upstairs.
Now, that is a headline!
This is probably something few would notice in their daily newspaper, but it was something I never saw before.
My career spanned a time at newspapers where there was a stylebook and rules about what you should and should not do in crafting a page layouts.
The general rule on one-column headlines was three decks or lines. It can be challenging to write those headlines so sometimes we added a fourth line, but I noticed something in The Post-Star this past week that I had never seen before at any newspaper anywhere: an eight-deck headline.
I suppose as long as it communicates the content of the story, it doesn't matter to readers, but that is still a lot of headline.
Press Act blocked
Congress has been kicking the can down the road for years when it comes to a federal shield law to protect journalists.
Most members of Congress don't like to be held accountable, but with a new administration continuing to attack the media and threatening retribution, it is probably more important than ever for it to be made law.
Sen. Charles Schumer tried to get the bill back on track this week, but Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, blocked it from coming out of committee.
The bipartisan bill had already passed the GOP-controlled house earlier this year.
The bill prevents the government from forcing journalists to reveal their sources and seize their data without knowledge.
Last month, Trump called on Republicans to kill the bill.
It is another blow to freedom of the press that should worry us all.
Photo of the Day
This photo from the north shore of Ohau to get you to forget about all that snow.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
Unfortunately, Stefanik is on record with her plan to permanently defund the UN Relief and Works Agency UNRWA. https://stefanik.house.gov/2024/2/stefanik-jackson-introduce-bill-to-halt-funds-to-unrwa For that reason, though I would love another go at running for Congress, I maintain a glimmer of hope that the plan to install her as UN Ambassador will be diverted.
The idea that Stefanik will make a positive contribution of any sort is a laugh. Forget it. She’s only interested in herself and destruction of anything that doesn’t benefit herself.